Page 9 of Shattered
"What? I thought you were staying for dinner?"
"If you have enough food for an extra person, why don't you invite Mr. Mechanic over to thank him for assisting you today?"
Just as I opened my mouth to speak, Flynn's voice sounded from the open door. "Who is Mr. Mechanic?"
Lizzy and I answered at the same time.
"It's no one, baby."
"Your neighbor."
Flynn's face lit up, and his eyes grew big. "Aw, awesome. Logan has the coolest bike. Is he coming for dinner, Mommy?"
I gritted my teeth and narrowed my eyes at Lizzy. "What are you doing?"
Lizzy just winked, and with a wide smile, she said, "I'm helping you. You'll thank me one day." Then she turned and bent over, so she was eye level with Flynn. "Your mommy was just telling me that she was going to go next door to invite him over."
"Mommy, when Logan comes can I show him my superhero collection?" Flynn stared at me with those big eyes of his filled with so much excitement. Maybe having Logan over for dinner wouldn't be such a bad thing. One meal didn't mean I was going to strip him naked and have my way with him.
Unfortunately.
"Sure, baby. But let me first go find out if he doesn't already have plans for the night, okay?" With my attention back on Lizzy, I asked, "Can you watch him for five minutes?"
"No problem." Lizzy's answer came with too much cheeriness and a way-too-smug smile.
As I approached Logan's front door, my palms became damp, and nervousness flooded my chest. Scanning my surroundings as I went, I took note of how neat everything looked. Perfectly manicured lawn with pops of color here and there, a large swing-chair on his porch flanked by two off-white wooden deck chairs and then his big black door—that looked perfect in the midst of the open-faced brick walls.
Sucking in a deep breath, I brought my hand up to knock but paused mid-way. This was a terrible idea. I'd always managed to stay one step ahead of Drew because I kept a low profile everywhere I went.
Just as I turned to leave, the door swung open. "What took you so-" Logan paused mid-sentence, and my jaw fell to my feet. How could it not with him standing there in nothing but tattoos and a low-slung towel on his hips? "Shit, I heard a noise and thought it was Brett."
Common sense told me that I had to say something, but the words wouldn't come. With all those muscles and deep v-line on display, the man had managed to strike me stupid.
"Was there something you needed, Sugar?"
Tearing my eyes away from his naked torso proved to be a difficult task. But when I looked at his face and noticed his dripping wet hair playing peek-a-boo with his eyes, I wished I was staring at his chest again instead. There was just something in his eyes that had goosebumps popping up all over my skin.
Hardly managing a nod, I croaked out, "Right. Uh…I want you…" In my defense, I did say that he'd struck me stupid. "Uhm…I wanted to thank you for helping me today and we—Flynn and me—were wondering if you wanted to have dinner with us. Nothing fancy, just pasta and meatballs-" I stopped talking and bit down on my teeth. I'd never been a rambler and yet here I was… rambling.
Logan's gaze slipped from mine and rested on my lips for a few seconds before snapping back. "I could eat."
There was no mistaking the heat in his eyes when he spoke to me. It had my already unsteady nerves hanging on by a thread. So much so that I needed to take a step back.
"So…why don't you get all that-" with my index finger I motioned to his bare chest. "-covered up and come on over when you're ready." I didn't dare wait for a reply, just spun around and got the hell out of there as fast as my feet would carry me.
Pushing past Lizzy, without saying a word, I hurried to my bathroom and leaned back against the closed door.
Staring at the ceiling, I whispered, "What are you doing, Harper?"
Nothing could have prepared me for what'd just happened. I shut the front door and then took a moment to process. If I'd known helping Harper out of a jam would land me a dinner invitation, I would have sabotaged that piece of junk she'd been driving instead of waiting for fate to do something.
Feeling pretty damn good, I pushed off the door and walked to my bedroom with an extra bounce in my step. Deciding what to wear wasn't all that hard—I only owned jeans and tees. I was almost tempted into spending extra time on my appearance, but that wasn't me. I wanted Harper to be interested in me for who I was, not someone I pretended to be.
Happy with my selection of dark-washed jeans and a gray tee, I retraced my steps back to the front door, reminding myself not to come on too strong. This was the opening I'd been hoping for, and I didn't want to waste it. As I entered Harper's yard through the little wooden gate, I spotted Lizzy hopping down the porch steps. The moment she noticed me, a mischievous grin spread across her face.
"You have a nice evening, now," Lizzy said in lieu of greeting as she passed me.
"Uh… thanks… I think," My reply was given to her back, and I could have sworn I heard her giggle too. Shaking my head, I turned my attention back to the path in front of me. The breath got knocked right out of my lungs when I caught sight of Harper standing inside her open door.
